Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A lustrous red, reddish-brown, or black mineral, TiO2, used as a gemstone, as an ore, and in paints and fillers.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One of the three forms in which titanium dioxid occurs in nature. (See also octahedrite and brookite.)

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Min.) A mineral usually of a reddish brown color, and brilliant metallic adamantine luster, occurring in tetragonal crystals. In composition it is titanium dioxide, like octahedrite and brookite.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun mineralogy The most frequent of the three polymorphs of titanium dioxide, crystalizing in the tetragonal system, TiO2.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a mineral consisting of titanium dioxide in crystalline form; occurs in metamorphic and plutonic rocks and is a major source of titanium

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French, from German Rutil, from Latin rutilus, red; see rutilant.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin rutilus ("red") because of its common color, named in 1803.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word rutile.

Examples

  • The star sapphire does, not the rutile that causes it.

    Update amberfocus 2008

  • A recent increase in political stability has led to a revival of economic activity such as the rehabilitation of bauxite and rutile mining.

    Sierra Leone 2009

  • Ilmenite (FeTiO3) and rutile (TiO2) are the most important sources of titanium.

    Titanium 2008

  • Most heavy-mineral sands also have a high content of titanium-bearing minerals, such as ilmenite and rutile.

    Zirconium 2008

  • The estimated resources of rutile in the world contain about 230 million tons of titanium dioxide.

    Titanium 2008

  • Mining of bauxite and titanium dioxide (rutile) in the southeast has resulted in forest loss, with the subsequent dredging leaving large bodies of deep water polluted with heavy metals.

    Western Guinean lowland forests 2008

  • A recent increase in political stability has led to a revival of economic activity such as the rehabilitation of bauxite and rutile mining.

    Economy-overview 2008

  • The sand is siliceous and, as with other sand masses on the New South Wales north coast, contains significant quantities of the heavy minerals rutile, zircon and ilmenite.

    Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves, Australia 2008

  • A recent increase in political stability has led to a revival of economic activity such as the rehabilitation of bauxite and rutile mining.

    Sierra Leone 2008

  • Grains of other weathering-resistant minerals (such as garnet, rutile, ruby, sapphire, zircon, etc.) are often found in quartz sand as well.

    Sand and gravel 2008

  • And the unexpected addition of the rutilated quartz, with its needle-like inclusions of bright, coppery rutile (a mineral composed of titanium dioxide) truly sets this piece apart.

    Frosty Fabergé and an emerald from the Atocha Monica McLaughlin 2022

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.